Sonia Sarkar/NDTV

New Delhi, Jun 10: St Stephen's has decided to increase the number of seats for Christians this year. This will be formally announced next week.

What has students and teachers worried now is whether the new quota will eat into the general category, making St Stephen's College virtually impossible to get into.

On paper, Pakriti Arya is an ideal candidate for St Stephen's. With 84 per cent marks, she should be able to get into the BA Pass course she wants. But she knows the odds are against her.

''Even as getting into this college is so difficult and now if they cut down the seats for general category, where will we go? This is really unfair,'' says Pakriti.

The management wants 50 per cent reservation for Christians, another 30 per cent for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates. So that would leave 30 per cent for general category students.

Teachers say that it is the performance of the general candidates that add on to the reputation of the college and therefore their seats should not be compromised at any cost.

The teachers want that 50 per cent of seats be reserved for Christians, 40 per cent for general category and 10 per cent for SC and ST students, the sports quota and students with special needs.

A final decision on reservations will be announced next week but the 50 per cent quota for Christian has been cleared by both sides.

Even students who will benefit from the new policy are cautious about its impact.

''I am really happy that more number of seats are now provided to Christians but I am also apprehensive that this may lead to class based division between general and Christian students,'' says Endorirni Thangkhiew, a Christian applicant at St Stephen's.

So at St Stephen's, already near impossible to get into, will the competition be even tougher than ever before? That is what keeping the freshers awake at night.